Polish Cold Beet Soup (Chłodnik Litewski)

Perfect serving of Polish cold beet soup with all the garnishes and jammy egg.

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Polish Cold Beet Soup (Chłodnik Litewski)

This Polish Cold Beet Soup aka Chłodnik Litewski is made with cooked beets, gut loving kefir and yogurt, plenty of crunchy cucumber and radishes and heaps of fresh herbs. It's the most cooling and refreshing summer soup ever!

Course Dinner, Lunch, Soup

Cuisine Polish

Keyword chłodnik litewski, cold beet soup

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Chilling Time 2

Total Time 2 30

Servings generous servings

Calories 240kcal

Author Jo Allison

Equipment

Ingredients

500-600 g young beets (with stalks and greens if possible) beets peeled and grated and stalks/leaves chopped; see notes
150 g radishes half grated half chopped/sliced; see notes
250-280 g cucumber half grated half chopped/sliced; see notes
500 ml veggie stock or water I used water with 2 teaspoon of veggie bouillon powder
40-50 g green/spring onions finely chopped;
40-50 g chopped fresh dill you can also use mint, sorrel, parsley or a mix
1 garlic clove (optional) finely chopped
1 small white part of green onion or small yellow onion or shallot (optional)
500 g kefir or soya equivalent
250 g 5% fat Greek yogurt (not Greek style yogurt) or soya equivalent
1 teaspoon sugar (optional) see notes
lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Prepare your beets by peeling and grating them on a coarse side of the grater. If you've got stalks and leafy tops, wash them well and chop quite finely.
Put grated beetroot in a lidded pan together with water or light vegetable stock and some sugar (if using). If only using water you can season beets with salt and pepper at this point as well. Cover and bring to boil.
Once boiling, take off the lid, reduce the heat and simmer for about 10-15 minutes or until the beets are tender.
If you've got stalks and leafy greens add them after first 5 minutes of simmering.
You will notice that a lot of liquid will evaporate which is as it should be.
500-600 g young beets (with stalks and greens if possible), 500 ml veggie stock or water, 1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
Next, you need to cool the beets completely before proceeding.
***Quick Tip*** I like to transfer them into a large bowl and put that bowl in a washing up bowl filled with ice cold water. It usually takes about an hour for beets to be cold enough to proceed
While the beets are cooling down, prepare all the other ingredients.
I like to grate half of cucumber and radishes and then chop/slice/cut the other half for added texture and to have some crunchy bits.
Finely chop your herbs, green onions and garlic.
***Quick Tip*** Save some of the chopped (not grated) cucumber and radishes and also some dill and green onions as garnish to serve on top of chłodnik.
150 g radishes, 250-280 g cucumber, 40-50 g green/spring onions, 40-50 g chopped fresh dill, 1 garlic clove (optional), 1 small white part of green onion or small yellow onion or shallot (optional)
Once your beets are cool enough add all your remaining veggies, herbs, kefir and yogurt and give it all a good mix. You will see gorgeous pink colour emerge.
Taste, season with lemon juice, salt and pepper and put in the fridge for 1-2 hours for the flavours to mingle and to properly chill the soup.
Enjoy served with saved chopped garnishes, boiled eggs etc. See Serving Suggestion for details.
150 g radishes, 250-280 g cucumber, 40-50 g green/spring onions, 40-50 g chopped fresh dill, 1 garlic clove (optional), 500 g kefir, 250 g 5% fat Greek yogurt (not Greek style yogurt), lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, 1 small white part of green onion or small yellow onion or shallot (optional)

Notes

Nutritional information is approximate, per serving (based on 4 servings) and should be treated as a rough guideline only. It will differ depending on the exact ingredients used.
I had 370g/13oz of beets after peeling and 180g/6.3 oz chopped stalk. The amount doesn't need to be exact it's more of a guideline.
Half chop/half grate your veg to introduce some texture and crunch. Save some chopped veg and herbs as garnish.
Sugar is optional but I like to add a ½ -1 teaspoon of sugar when cooking my beets to bring out their natural sweetness even more so that it can withstand the sour tones from kefir and yogurt.
Store in the fridge for 4-5 days. It taste best from day 2 after it's been properly chilled and flavours had a chance to mingle.
Cannot be frozen.
Please refer to 🛒 Ingredients to make Polish Cold Beet Soup for detailed info on all ingredients, possible substitutions etc.

Feel free to chop some of the beets small instead of grating them all if you wanted to introduce more texture. Bear in mind it will most likely take longer to cook though.

I cooked my beets in a light veggie stock ( I used couple of flat teaspoons of vegetable bouillon to 500ml of water) but you can cook it simply in water.

Be mindful of seasoning. Depending on the saltiness of your stock you might not need as much salt as when cooking your beets in water.

If you don't have young beets with greens you can add a handful of chopped chard leaves for some greenery. Spinach could be used as well but make sure to add it at the very end of cooking just to wilt it.

I like to introduce different textures and a bit of crunch by partially grating and partially slicing/chopping my cucumber and radishes.

I went full on fresh dill in my chłodnik but as already mentioned, herbs like mint, sorrel or parsley (or a mix) will work equally well. Just make sure you add plenty.

Nutrition